Integrating Videoconferencing Into Microsoft Lync: Five options.

An evolving partner ecosystem is bringing full multiparty video functionality to the Microsoft UC platform.

"One of the more promising aspects of Microsofts new Lync unified communications server and client product is the growing number of options to use it as a platform for video conferencing. Out of the box Lync, like its predecessor Office Communications Server (OCS), supports simple one-to-one standard definition desktop video chat," writes Network World's Irwin Lazar.

"Few of the companies weve researched that have deployed OCS have exploited this capability, primarily due to the limitations of one-to-one chat. However, as Microsoft rapidly grows its Lync partner ecosystem, video options are exploding," Lazar writes.